730. Troica agrees with Vesta: the worship of Vesta and the Penates was fabled to have been brought by Æneas from Troy.

732. per adversas undas, up the stream.

734. sonant, crackle.

737. mālo, mast (mălus, bad, has short ǎ).

740. laterum e parte duorum, on the two sides.

743. cæleste, a poetic form of the ablative.

XXIII. THE APOTHEOSIS OF CÆSAR.

XV. 745. hic, Æsculapius.

746. marte togaque, war and peace, the toga being the distinc

tive garb of peace.

747. magis, construed with quam, v. 750.

748. properata, speedily now. rerum, deeds.

749. sidus, see v. 850.

750. progenies, the emperor Augustus, his adopted son.

752. domuisse: Tacitus, more modestly, says: potest videri ostendisse posteris, non tradidisse.

Agr. 13.

753. septemflua : there were seven principal mouths of the Nile. 755. Jubam: Juba, king of Numidia, fought against Cæsar at Thapsus (B. C. 46).

756. Pontum : Cæsar overthrew Pharnaces, son of king Mithridates, B. C. 47. Quirini: Quirinus, an ancient god of the Romans, was identified by them with their eponymous hero, Romulus.

757. egisse: the word regularly used for triumphal processions. 758. quo, etc., in his administering affairs.

762. genetrix, Venus.

763. pontifici: Cæsar held the office of pontifex maximus, the head of the state religion. The word is used here, in order to fasten upon his murder the character of sacrilege.

767. Iulo: Iulus, son of Æneas, was the alleged ancestor of the Julian gens.

768. justis curis, well-grounded fears.

769. Calydonia: Diomedes, son of Tydeus, of Calydon, had wounded Venus at the siege of Troy, when she was interfering in behalf of the Trojans. - vulneret, and the following subjunctives (§ 320. e), seeing that, &c.: the relatives refer to the subject of ero, v. 768.

XV. 730-823.] XXIII. The Apotheosis of Cæsar. 257

770. male defensæ monia, the unsuccessful defence of the walls, lit. walls of ill-defended Troy (§ 72. 3 a).

771. natum, Æneas: his wanderings, his descent into the infernal regions, and his war with Turnus (who was supported by Juno) are enumerated.

778. sacerdotis Vesta: the worship of Vesta was under the special oversight of the pontifex maximus, who resided in the Regia, adjoining her temple.

781. veterum sororum, the Fates.

783. ferunt, they declare. - arma, tubas, cornua are subjects of præmonuisse, depending upon ferunt. All these signs are said to have preceded Cæsar's death.

789. cærulus, livid.

792. ebur, the ivory images of the gods: this was a common portent. cantus and verba are prophetic voices and incantations, heard in the air.

795. caput, a projecting portion of the liver: it was a very bad sign if any portion of the viscera was cut by the slaughterer's knife.

800. præmonitus, premonitions.

801. in templum: the place of the assassination was the Curia (senate-house) Pompeii, which was a templum, in the Roman sense, as being a place formally consecrated by auguries. This was necessary for assemblies of the Senate, or of the people; while, on the other hand, every ædes, or abode of a god, was not necessarily a templum.

803. Cytherea, an epithet of Venus, from the island Cythera. 805. condere, sc. Cæsarem: in this manner Venus had rescued both Paris and Æneas.

810. rerum tabularia, the archives of fate.

812. metuunt: Fate was even above the gods. 818. deus (pred.), as a god.

819. natus suus, Augustus, his adopted son. 821. nos, i. e. the Fates. suos, sc. socios.

822. illius auspiciis: the auspices could be taken only by the commander, who had been formally vested with the imperium. — obsessæ : Mutina was besieged by Antony, B. C. 43, and relieved by Octavius and others, acting then in the interests of the Senate.

823. Pharsalia: because Philippi, where Octavius and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius (B. C. 42), might be poetically regarded as in the same country as Pharsalia in Thessaly: Emathia is a district of Macedonia.

17

825. Siculis undis: it was in the neighborhood of Messana, in Sicily, that Agrippa, the admiral of Octavius, defeated Sex. Pompeius, B. C. 36.

826. conjunx, Cleopatra, who married Antony.

827. non bene, unfortunately.

828. servitura, sc. esse, etc., depends on minata erit.

833. jura: Octavius, as Augustus, reorganized the civil institutions of Rome.

836. prolem: Tiberius and Drusus, sons of Livia (wife of Augustus) by a former marriage. They were adopted by their step-father, and Tiberius succeeded him as Emperor.

838. Pylios annos, i. e. the years of Nestor.

842. æde, the temple of Divus Julius fronted on the Forum. 843. sede, i. e. the curia; this act followed immediately upon the murder.

845. eripuit governs animam.

853. obnoxia, subject to.

854. una in parte, in this one point, i. e. his superiority to his father.

857. ipsos æquantibus, i. e. because they were both divine. 859. triformis, i. e. consisting of earth, sea, and sky.

861. Æneæ comites, the Penates, or household gods, brought through fire and sword from Troy, and established

by Æneas

in Lavinium.

862. di Indigetes: these are generally reckoned as deified heroes; among them was Æneas himself. Romulus (Quirinus) again was son of Mars, one of whose chief titles was Gradivus, "the strider."

865. Phoebe Apollo was the tutelary deity of Augustus.

866. Tarpeias, the original name of the Capitoline Mount: afterwards confined to a part of the hill.

869. Augustum, an adjective. — quem relates to orbe. 873. corporis, objective genitive with jus.

FASTI, IV.]

Shorter Poems.

259

SHORTER POEMS.

For the metre of this, and all the following extracts (elegiac), see § 363.- The Pentameter is most conveniently scanned by dividing it into two half-verses (hemistichs), consisting each of two feet with an added half-foot.

I. FASTI.

1. The Festival of Pales.

IV. 721. Parilia, § 52, 2, C, R. The form Parilia seems to have been in common use, by an interchange of 1 and r frequent among primitive nations, and also among young children.

- poscor: this is the word regularly used of a person formally called upon to sing or speak.

722. Pales: an Italian goddess of pasturage (possibly of the same root as pa-scor). It is sometimes masculine.

725. certe: this gives the reason why he deserves her favor. — de vitulo cinerem: the ashes were preserved from the sacrifice of the fordicidia (Apr. 15), and used for the lustrating rites of the palilia. They were mixed with bean-straw (beans being regarded by the ancients as having a peculiar purifying efficacy), and the curdled blood of the October horse, sacrificed October 15 (see v. 733).

726. februa: from this is derived the name of February, the month of purification, the last in the old Roman year.

727. transilui: the chief ceremonial of the palilia was leaping through heaps of blazing hay and stubble; the herds also were driven through them. This, too, is a cleansing rite.

728. uda laurea: a bough of laurel was used to sprinkle purifying water.

731. virginea: the suffimen (fumigation) was prepared by the Vestal Virgin, by whom the blood of the October horse had been preserved.

732. Vesta: she was the special guardian of chastity. 736. virga, a brush-broom, usually of laurel.

738. longa corona, festoon.

739. vivo, crude.

741. mares; it is hard to see why this epithet should be applied to the olive, except from its tonic bitterness.-tædam, pitch-pine. herbas Sabinas, juniper: the name is still preserved

in the word savin.

742. crepet, crackle: this was an especially favorable sign.

745. suas, appropriate to her: no blood could be shed on her festival. resectis: this is explained as referring to the cutting up of the food to be shared among the worshippers.

746. silvicolam: the pastures were openings in the forest, or themselves covered with a light growth of wood.

749. sacro, sc. loco. "The list of innocent sins which follows curiously illustrates both the superstitious fears and the trifling observances of a primitive pastoral life. There is moreover a touching simplicity throughout the whole petition, which affords a strong contrast to the frightful depravity of civilized Rome, as described in the pages of Juvenal and Martial.” — Paley. As illustrated, too, we may add, in many of the writings of Ovid himself.

750. bustis: the bustum was a mound heaped up upon the spot where the body was burned.

752. semicaper deus: the rural god Faunus was identified with the Greek Pan, who was represented with goat's legs.

753. opaco, shady.

754. fiscina frondis: "In countries where grass is less plentiful than with us, sheep, goats, and cattle are still fed in great measure on the foliage and succulent twigs of trees: see Virg. G. i. 226, ii. 435; Ecl. x. 30.” — Paley.

66

759. fontana numina, etc. : Nothing is more pleasing in ancient mythology than the fanciful doctrine which peopled all earth and sea with multitudes of fair female spirits. Every hill and dale, every grot and crystal spring, every lake and brook and river, every azure plain and coral cave of ocean, was animated and hallowed by the presence and protection of the Nymphs." Ramsay.

761. labra Dianæ, referring to the story of Acteon, who saw Diana in her bath: the goddess, as a punishment, turned him into a stag, and he was torn in pieces by his own dogs.

762. Faunum: this well-meaning god (from faveo) was angry if discovered asleep on the ground.

765. redigam, gather in, i. e. at night.

766. vellera, i. e. the carcass having been devoured.

770. vimina rara, wickerwork, through which the curd was allowed to drain; they were called fiscellæ.